Hugh Jackman has received a great deal of press over the last 24 hours for stopping a preview performance of his new Broadway play, A Steady Rain, while an audience member's cell phone rang for almost a full minute. I think reports of Mr. Jackman's reaction have been greatly exaggerated. (One report I heard said that Jackman "ripped into" the audience member in question.) Actually, I think he was fairly patient. You can watch the clip yourself.
This made me recall a similar episode during the penultimate performance of Patti Lupone's Gypsy, during which some hapless audience member dared to take a picture. Patti's response was deliciously Classic Lupone. Watch and listen.
As an actor, I admit, I feel a certain degree of satisfaction when I watch these clips having had to perform through picture-taking and cell phone ringing and some even more distracting behavior. However, I never stopped the show. I can't. I'm not a star. Really, the only actors who can get away with these sorts or responses are the ones whose names appear above the title.
In the case of Jackman and Lupone, both have worked hard to get where they are and, in my opinion, are deserving of their success. And whether it's fair or not, their celebrity and fame gives them a certain amount of leadership within a company of actors. But, for example, if the picture-taking had happened during "Little Lamb", the girl playing Louise would have been expected to just soldier on through the song. Every actor knows the oldest rule in show business is the show must go on.
As actors, part of our job is to have the technique and concentration to continue in the moment despite whatever distractions may happen in the audience. You owe it to everyone in the audience who is not behaving badly and the rest of the actors on stage who are working collaboratively to create the reality of the play. One actor deciding to abandon that collaboration is arguably more distracting than any cell phone ring or camera flash.
Also, in our "community" of the theatre, as Miss Lupone so eloquently puts it, we, onstage, know that there is a staff of ushers and a house manager out there whose job it is to deal with offending audience members. You can't see it in the Hugh Jackman clip, but I promise you, there was an exasperated House Manager or usher standing in the aisle, arms waving wildly, trying to communicate to the cell phone ringer to get the heck out of the theatre. Someone from the stage jumping in to do this job makes the entire episode more humiliating and disruptive than it really needs to be. Now, I admit, this is the ideal philosophy I'd like to adhere to in the best of all possible worlds, but...these reactions, though I don't condone them, are kinda fabulous in an "actor's ultimate revenge fantasy" sort of way.
The great irony here is, that while recording these reactions may not be distracting, it is illegal. Can you imagine what Patti would have done if she'd known?
As a New Yorker who sometimes keeps a car in the city, I am normally not in favor of anything taking up a parking space other than a car. Today, however, I have to make an exception. New York City is taking part in an international event called Park(ing) Day. (http://www.parkingdaynyc.org/)
The idea is to convert conventional parking spaces into engaging, people-friendly public spaces for one day a year. The aim is to spark discussion on the importance of parks and public space in normally auto-clogged cities like New York. Parking spaces all over New York have been transformed into art installations, exhibits, or performance spaces, like "Shakespeare in the Parking Space", which I made a special trip to see.
In a spot located on Columbus Avenue between 60th & 61st Streets, some Fordham University students set up a simple platform and a bench (all one really needs to perform Shakespeare) and treated passersby to sonnets, monologues, some contemporary poetry, songs and the inevitable "original rap". Some of the Shakespearean selections included Hermia and Helena from Midsummer (pictured below), Juliet Act 4, scene 2, a marvelous St. Crispen's Day speech from Henry V delivered with all the gusto only a college boy can muster, and even a female Hamlet.
Hard-boiled New Yorkers, normally too busy to even look up from their Blackberries, stopped to listen, laugh, applaud and take pictures, including a group of construction workers on their lunch hour (pictured below).
I must admit my word-nerd, classical theatre-loving heart was moved to see this earnest group of students performing Shakespeare as it was meant to be: in the open air for the masses. I doubt Shakespeare could have anticipated the noise from buses and ambulances whizzing by, however.
It's good to know that if I don't get any work after completing my MFA in classical acting, I can always high-jack a parking space to perform.
I am pleased to report that historic Provincetown Playhouse which was slated for demolition by NYU's expansion plans will be preserved after all. As well it should be! I reported the historical significance of the playhouse in my original post aboutit as the birthplace of many of Eugene O'Neill's greatest works as well as the plays of Edward Albee, Edna St. Vincent Millay and has always played a prominent role in alternative American theatre.
NYU is now back peddling on their original plans saying they never planned to demolish it and that there is much "misinformation" being reported about the expansion plans which they are trying to clear up. Tell that to the New York Times. I believe they used the word "demolished" in their article on the subject.
According to NYU, they now plan to "preserve the size of the theater along with its four walls, entry way and façade." They will, however, build a structure around it which will supposedly blend with the existing architecture in the area.
The best news about this is not only is it a victory for the American theatre, but a victory for the people as well. Crains reported "Announcements of preliminary plans for the site caused such a flap late last month that playwrights, producers and actors including Blythe Danner, Mercedes Ruehl, Eric Stolz and John Leguizama signing a petition to protest the proposed changes." I like to think my mom's email helped, too!
I was saddened to read today of the death of Tony Award winning costume designer, Alvin Colt. Alvin was the original designer for such iconic Broadway hits as Guys & Dolls, On the Town, Li'l Abner and many others. At the time of his 90th birthday, Alvin figured that he had probably costumed about 90 productions including regional and off-Broadway credits. He served as mentor to costume designer Bob Mackie who said of his work "Alvin could do a costume that would walk on stage and get a laugh before the actor even opened his mouth." I can personally attest to that fact as I had the pleasure of working with Alvin some 9 or 10 years ago. When you wear a costume designed by Alvin half your work is done for you. He was a quiet, gentle-giant of a man (nearly 7 feet tall), unassuming with a devilish sense of humor and a genius imagination. Alvin worked on perennial Off-Broadway hit, Forbidden Broadway right up to his death. He was 91.
I'm long overdue for a Musical Moments post so in honor of the opening of the much heralded and critically acclaimed revival of South Pacific last week, I've decided to focus on another of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classics: Carousel. This is probably my favorite score of all the R & H shows (The Carousel Waltz is perhaps one of the best orchestral pieces ever written for the musical stage and "If I loved You" is considered by many a near perfect song.) But as with most of Rodgers and Hammerstein, people either love it or they hate it. (Frankly, I think this is because people have seen too many bad productions of these shows, for when they're done well, they are wonderful.) Carousel gets a pretty bad rap for the wife-beating that goes on in the story and particularly for the line when Louise asks her mother, Julie, if it's possible for a man to hit you and not feel it at all, Julie replies "yes". But this in no way promotes spousal abuse. It is simply an accurate portrayal the of psyche of a battered woman, indeed, Louise is in danger of repeating the cycle of dysfunction as we learn in the ballet when she is seduced by a carnival barker similar to her father.
During a visit to one of the grad schools I was accepted at, there was discussion about the importance of doing classic musicals as part of a well-rounded theatre education. While one teacher argued that the R&H shows have been done to death and should be left alone for a while to gain some perspective, another argued that most students age 18 to 22 hadn't been exposed to these classics yet and that there is room for new, modern-day interpretations of the shows. He used the '94 Broadway revival of Carousel as an example of how fresh, new and even avant garde these shows can be conceptualized. He also correctly noted that Rodgers & Hammerstein are the basis for modern musical theatre; that without Oscar Hammerstein there would be no Stephen Sondheim. (Sondheim was protege to Oscar Hammerstein.) I've included a clip from that production of the "You'll Never Walk Alone" scene performed on the Tony awards. You will also note the color-blind casting done in the production: both Cousin Nettie and Carrie Pipperidge, for example, were played by black actresses. Enjoy the clip.
I'm about a week late in reporting this, but Broadway star Cheyenne Jackson, currently appearing in Xanadu, gave an interview to Advodate magazinewhich appeared in last week's issue in which he discusses being openly gay and how he balances that with the demands of being an actor and celebrity. He says he assumed certain career risks when he came out publicly in a matter-of-fact way to a New York Times reporter shortly after the opening of All Shook Up, in which he played the Elvis character. The article adderesses the concerns of many gay actors who fear being pidgeon holed by their sexuality. Here's one of my favorite quotes:
“I’m in uncharted territory because based on what I look like, I get cast as the guy who gets the girl. But I have a sense that the tide is changing, and I have no problem being the trailblazer. I don’t know how or when it’s going to manifest itself, but I think being my authentic self is going to have its rewards.”
He also tells a sweet story of a gay teenage fan who requested a picture of Cheyenne to hold while he came out to his family. The photo gave the boy courage. Did I have to choose a photograph of Cheyenne with no pants on to show what a great gay role model he is? No. But hey, I'm a guy
I had the pleasure of meeting Cheyenne after a performance of Thoroughly Modern Millie in which he played a small role and covered the lead. He happens to be an old personal friend of my friend Laura who made the introduction. He was gracious, warm and down to earth. Just a regular guy with a good head on his shoulders.
This kind of stuff drives me nuts. NY Post Broadway columnist Michael Riedel questions whether Sean Hayes of Will and Grace fame is "virile" enough to play the male lead in a workshop production of Promises, Promises which may eventually move to Broadway. The question of why anyone would invest the millions of dollars required to produce a Broadway show into a revival ofPromises, Promises not withstanding, Sean Hayes is, by profession, an actor. Jack McFarland was a character he played. He acted that role, just as he will act this role. Riedel's argument is based on the fact that Broadway veteran Jerry Orbach, who, as Brian Juergens of After Elton put it, "could crush buildings with his bare thighs", originated the role.
It is precisely musings like these in the press that keep gay actors in the closet. You won't hear these same reporters questions whether an actor is "white enough" or "too Jewish" for a role. Why the double standard? This kind of talk reinforces stereotypes and contributes to the toxic homophobic atmosphere that permeates our society.
By the way, before his role on Will and Grace, Sean Hayes made a career of doing commercial work playing roles like beleaguered husbands and beer-drinking sports fans.
With all the holiday activity I’m a little late in reporting this, but legendary Broadway and Hollywood choreographer Michael Kidd died this week. (Pictured above, left, on set with Gene Kelly) A native of Brooklyn, Kidd got his start at the American School of Ballet and went on to become a principle ballet dancer. He eventually crossed over to Broadway where he became one of the best choreographers in the business winning five Tony Awards. His credits read like a chapter out of Musical Theatre history with Guys & Dolls, Finian’s Rainbow, Can Can, Li’l Abner and Wildcat among them.
Kidd was equally in demand in Hollywood at MGM studios during its golden age of musicals in the 1950s. There he choreographed for the likes of Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly and Cyd Charise among others. He credited his signature athletic style to movements that came from real life and fit the characters for whom he was choreographing. Perhaps the best example of this is the Barn Raising sequence in the 1954 classic Seven Brides for Seven Brothers--one of the best dance sequences ever to be put on film. With the task of choreographing a ballet for lumberjacks, Kidd included such actions as ax wielding and log rolling into the number forever dispelling the myth that dancing is for sissies.
Michael Kidd died of cancer at his home in Los Angeles. He was 92. Click below to watch the Barn Raising sequence from Seven Brides.
In honor of Christmas I'm posting the "Turkey Lurkey Time" number from Promises, Promises. The show opened just before Christmas in 1968 with the star studded creative team of book writer Neil Simon, songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David, director/choreographer Michael Bennett, producer David Merrick and even featured Broadway royalty Jerry Orbach and Donna McKechnie. Despite all of this star-power, Promises, Promises is but a lackluster star in the musical theatre firmament. Still, it has some moments worth watching again. "Turkey Lurkey Time" is one of them.
Now, don't get me wrong--the song is awful. It makes no sense and it's easy to see why it never became a Christmas standard, say, the way "We Need a Little Christmas" from Mame did. Besides the schizophrenic melody, try to decipher the lyrics and you come up with a rather bizarre Christmas sentiment. Take for example the lyric "It's Lucy Goosey time, her time is running out and we all know when." What??? As in her time is running out on Christmas when we kill her and eat her? Yeah, let's sing and dance about that.
To the modern sensibility the number is high camp. Michael Bennett's choreography is such a relic of the '60s it almost seems like a parody of itself and yet it's brilliant at the same time. The Christmas sentiment Bennett captures here is that of sheer joy and that's what still stands up today. Was there ever a more feel-good number on Broadway? That said, this Christmas I wish you joy with "Turkey Lurkey Time".
I chose this Ed Sullivan clip of replacement cast members because the video quality is better than the one from the 1968 Tony awards. But if you want to watch Donna McKechnie do the number, click here.
As you probably know, the stagehands' union, I.A.T.S.E. Local 1, are on strike darkening many of Broadway's theaters. Today I picked up a flier from one of the strikers being handed out in front of the Palace Theater where Legally Blond is playing. The flier says:
We are Local One, the stagehands who work behind the scenes for all the shows on Broadway. We truly regret that there is no show.
Theatre owners and producers are demanding a 38% cut in our jobs and wages. They have built a $20 million fund to be used against us from the sale of theatre tickets to the public.
Broadway is a billion dollar industry and has never been more profitable than now.
Cuts in our jobs and wages will never result in a cut in ticket prices to benefit the public, but only an increase in the profits for producers.
Unlike the producers, we are not fighting for our second or third homes; we are fighting to keep the one that we have.
We ask for you understanding in our efforts to defend ourselves and protect our families.
Sincerely, The brothers and sisters of Local One, I.A.T.S.E.
As a union actor I have to support my fellow union members in this strike. These are the regular working stiffs who truly make the magic happen on stage every night. We actors wouldn't look or sound very good without them.
Today the New York City Public Libraryreceived a gift from the estate of legendary actress, Katharine Hepburn in the form of a collection of letters, scripts, photographs, scrapbooks and the like all having to do with Hepburn's stage career. The articles, like the lady herself, are full of life, wit and wisdom.
A treasure trove of memorabilia, the collection includes her personal copy of the script to Coco which contains hand-scribbled lyrics probably as dictated to her in rehearsal from famed lyricist, Alan Jay Lerner. There is a fan letter from Judy Garland following a performance of The Millionairess in 1952, in which Garland gushes "I've always said you were our leading actress" then suffers an apparent mood swing and goes on to proclaim "I am getting fat and pregnant and mean." There is also an absolutely hilarious journal entry recorded by Kate during the 1950-51 tour of As You Like Itin which she recounts being arrested for speeding in Oklahoma. She is hauled into a police station and complains to a small-town lawyer "I have been arrested by this this moron," indicating the young arresting officer who was "very handsome in a dull sort of way." After what sounded like an all day affair, she pays a fine of $20 and promises "if I ever found an Oklahoma car in Connecticut I'd flatten all the tires."
Hepburn was known for her progressive politics but rarely spoke of them publicly, however, the collection also includes a brief hand written curtain speech about the Kent State shootings delivered during the run of Coco at the request of a fellow actor. In it Hepburn says of the four slain students "they were our kids and our responsibility. Our generation are responsible and we must take time to pause and reflect and do something."
The collection will be available to the public at the Library for Performing Artsat Lincoln Center in February.
One of television's best-loved character actresses, Alice Ghostely, died this past weekend after a long battle with cancer. Perhaps most famous for her role as the lovably befuddled housekeeper, Esmeralda, on Bewitched, Ghostley got her start on the Broadway stage in New Faces of 1952where she became a star along side other such "new faces" as Eartha Kitt and Paul Lynde singing her signature "Boston Beguine" for the first time. Though a master of comic timing, she went on to win a Tony Award in 1965 for a dramatic role in The Sign in Sydney Brustein's Window. Over the years Ghostley popped up all over TV-land in supporting roles and guest spots that would re-energize even the most stale sit-com for her brief appearance. In the late '80s Ghostley was introduced to a whole new generation of TV viewers as Bernice Clifton, the eccentric dotty neighbor of the Sugarbaker sisters on Designing Women which earned her an Emmy nomination in 1992. Her 31 film credits include such classics as The Graduateand To Kill a Mockingbird. One of my personal favorite Alice Ghostley roles was as one of the stepsisters in Rodgers & Hammerstein's 1957 television version of Cinderella opposite Kaye Ballard (inspired casting!) and starring Julie Andrews. Ballard remained a friend to the end releasing news of Ghostely's death to the press saying among other things "She was an exceptional actress...(Alice) was gentle and she was sincere and she was kind and she never said a cruel thing about anyone -- ever...But she was superior in everything she did. She was a special, special person." Alice Ghostley died at her home in Studio City, California. She was 81.
After doing a City Snapshot post of the Hilton Theatre the other day, I was reminded that the Hilton Theatre actually began life as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in 1997. Ragtime was the very first show to open there. The Hilton was built out of two old Broadway theatres, the Apollo and the Lyric which were both turned into movie houses in the '30s and then fell into years of disrepair. They were among the theatres reclaimed and saved by the New Times Square project in the '90s. Bits and pieces of both theatres (the dome from the Lyric, the proscenium from the Apollo) were saved to create an old world style Broadway theatre for the opening of Ragtime in January of 1998. The theatre is truly glorious inside but there is one aspect of the period theatre the designers did not get right: the size. At over 1800 seats, every show that has played the Ford, now the Hilton, has suffered trying fill the large house. It is a full 200 seats larger than the St. James, the largest of the vintage theatres left on Broadway. This may not seem like a lot, but it can make a difference as to whether a show runs two years or four years. But back to Ragtime...
In the new Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Livent, the show's producers, mounted a truly magnificent production of Ragtime, an adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel of the same name. The set was a behemoth and Ford product placement figured prominently in the show and even included a number featuring Henry Ford himself along with his assembly line for the Model T. Yet somehow none of this seemed gratuitous!
Ragtime was a refreshing glass of water in the desert that was musical theatre in the 1990s (lest we forget musical versions of Big, Footloose, Saturday Night Fever...I could go on.) Ragtime was one of the most masterfully crafted shows to appear on Broadway in years. Outside of being a very good adaptation, the score quite brilliantly used all the musical influence of the era and of the characters featured in the story: there was gospel, the minor keys of Jewish and Eastern European immigrants, and of course Ragtime.
In the opening number featured below all three of these groups are represented and set the stage for a truly epic musical that dealt with complex relationships, families, race, class and framed it all in beautiful historical context. With a cast of around 30, the huge state-of-the-art set and the extra large house to fill, the carrying costs for the show were astronomical. Despite great reviews, the show only ran two years. But don't let that keep you from enjoying this fabulous opening number. Hit play. (Oh, and don't let that precocious child at the beginning of the number turn you off--he's only there for a minute.)
At the Hilton Theatre where Young Frankenstein is set to open this Fall, both the interior and exterior of the building are busily undergoing transformation in preparation for what is sure to be a big hit this Broadway season. One of the back doors that faces West 43rd Street is decorated as a Brains Depository in a clever nod to the show's off-beat comedic style.
A very dear friend of mine is working as the associate conductor for Young Frankensteinand tells me that the show has just enjoyed a very successful out of town try-out in Seattle. I just hope the Hilton Theatre doesn't compromise the show's success here in New York as it is one of the largest theatres on Broadway and often hard to fill cutting short the run of many shows that have played there in the past.
Since seeing Grey Gardens last week I can't get the show out of my head. The tunes linger, the characters haunt, and the performances live on as some of the best I've seen on Broadway in recent memory. So I thought I'd follow up my last post by spotlighting a couple of the musical numbers from the show with one of my Musical Moments posts.
Grey Gardens is performed in two acts and tells the story of the two Edith Bouvier Beales, a mother and daughter known as "Big" Edie and "Little" Edie, who were also the aunt and first cousin to Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. The first act takes place during the summer of 1941 at the Beale's East Hampton estate, Grey Gardens, on the day that Little Edie's engagement to Joe Kennedy Jr. is to be announced. The action revolves around the high society preparations for the engagement party and sets up the complex relationships of not only mother and daughter, but the entire family as well. By the end of the first act, Big Edie's controlling, competitive nature has sabotaged her daughter's engagement just as her own marriage is falling apart. The act closes as Mrs. Beale goes out to the garden where dozens of her guests are awaiting the news of Little Edie's engagement, but instead, Joe Jr has called the wedding off, little Edie has run away and Big Edie's husband, Mr. Beale, has sent word that he's off to Mexico for a quickie divorce.
Follow this link to watch how Big Edie faces her guests as she sings "Will You," one of the musical numbers she has planned for the party. She struggles to maintain a brave face while inside her world is crumbling. Christine Embersole's performance of the song is heartbreaking and the lush melody is reminiscent of a Jerome Kern classic. (Sorry for not embedding, that feature was disabled for this clip on YouTube.)
The second act takes place some 32 years later after Grey Gardens has fallen into disrepair and Big and Little Edie, who still live there, have become a couple of recluse eccentrics, their co-dependant relationship seeming to imprison them there. This is the portion of the play that is based on the Maysle's 1975 documentary. The part of Little Edie in the second act is played by the same actress who plays Big Edie in the first act, in this case Christine Ebersole, symbolizing the inner conflict between mother and daughter in both characters. We meet Little Edie at the top of the second act not as the well-bred debutante we knew in the first act, but rather, as an odd, middle aged character with a bizarre sense of style who has a penchant for headdresses and mismatched outfits. We learn that she follows astrology devoutly and cares for some 50 stray cats and raccoons that live in her house. Needless to say, Little Edie is somewhat out of step with the staid community of East Hampton and in the opening of the second act she states her unique philosophy on fashion and conformity in "The Revolutionary Costume for Today." (See the clip below.)
This number was followed with at least five minutes of applause the night I saw the show and speaks to Ms. Ebersole's range as an actress. She so truly and fully inhabits both of her characters in this show, it's hard to believe at times that it's the same actress playing both roles. Enjoy.
Last night I finally got to see the Broadway production of Grey Gardens. I had to rush to make arrangements to see it before it closes this weekend. After seeing it I am baffled as to why it is closing so early. I knew it would be good, the buzz since its opening has been mostly positive, but I was not expecting it to be one of the smartest, well crafted musicals to hit a Broadway stage in years. Having been familiar with the Maysle's documentary on the Beale's of Grey Gardens, I was amazed at how carefully and accurately the musical's creators, composer Scott Frankel, lyricist Michael Korie and book writer Doug Wright, set up the complex and dysfunctional relationships of "Big" and "Little" Edie Bouvier Beale and the men in their lives in the first act which of course all leads up to the pay-off in the second act where we find the two Edies have become eccentric old cat ladies unable to leave the decaying Grey Gardens out of fear, responsibility and poor health.
When one watches the Maysle's documentary film on which the second act is based, there is an intangible feeling created, vary from amusement to pity. There is something hypnotic about these two "staunch" characters and their bizarre world of Grey Gardens that keeps one enthralled. The show's creators managed to capture this very same feeling--and set it to music. The performances of the two leading ladies, Mary Louise Wilson and particularly Christine Embersole, are sure to become legendary. The dramatic meat of the show is spellbinding and the two women have the audience in the palm of their hands as they lead us along the roller coaster ride of their relationship as mother and daughter. I could go on and gush about the show all night if I could, but instead, I'll let the Flaming Curmudgeon do it for me. Here is his review of Grey Gardensafter seeing it last January. Enjoy.
Anything Goes is one of the most successful Broadway musicals of the 1930s. It originally starred Ethel Merman and features an absolutely cracker-jack score by Cole Porter which includes such hits as "You're the Top," "It's De-Lovely," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and of course the title song. Although the book has been revised and updated for the movie versions and revivals over the years, it has always managed to retain the screwball comedy feel of the original book writers, Lindsay and Crouse.
This clip is from the 1987 Lincoln Center revival which starred the incomparable Patti LuPone and the dreamy Howard McGillan (whom you can see at the very end of this number). I was in college at the time studying musical theatre when I saw this production no less than THREE TIMES. I can safely say I learned as much from watching those three performances as I did in four years of college. Ms. LuPone's performance in this role has become Broadway legend. She was that good.
Anyway, enjoy this clip of the Act 1 closer which the cast performed at the Tony Awards that year. Incidentally the conductor's arms you see waving around in the foreground belong to my friend Eddie Straus who was the musical director of that production. I didn't know him at the time though. But enough about me--watch the clip!
This morning when I woke up and turned on the TV I was saddened to learn that Charles Nelson Reilly had died over the weekend due to complications from pneumonia. To the television generation Reilly was mostly known as a fixture on game shows like Match Game, Tattletales and Hollywood Squares. I remember him from re-runs of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir with the beautiful Hope Lange in which he played the fussy, put-upon Claymore Gregg, the only living relative of the ghost, Captain Daniel Gregg, played by Edward Mulhare. He also starred in a couple of Saturday morning television series produced by Sid and Marty Krofft of H.R. Pufnstuff fame endearing him to a generation of children.
But Reilly was much more than a game show punchline. He got his start on Broadway having created such roles as Bud Frump in How to Suceed in Business... for which he won a Tony award and the love-sick Cornelius Hackl in Hello Dolly! for which he was nominated. He was an acting student of legendary teacher Uta Hagenand went on to become a renowned acting teacher at the famous H.B. Studiosin New York. He also directed operas and plays and earned a Tony nomination for best director for a production of The Gin Game with his dear friend Julie Harris.
Late in his career Reilly starred in an autobiographical one-man show called Save It for the Stage: The Life of Reilly. In it he told a story from early in his career in which he recounts a meeting with an NBC executive who told him "they don't put queers on TV." Reilly of course went on to become one of the most recognizable television faces of the 1970s. He carved out work for himself where he could, often playing the sissified fop, a movie staple left over from the '30s and '40s in the tradition of Edward Everett Horton. These roles were never openly gay, but certainly paved the way for audiences to accept the likes of Will and Grace's Jack McFarland into their living rooms decades later.
Reilly never hid his sexuality but never felt the need to come out publicly either, although he acknowledged his sexuality in his one-man show. I'm grateful he lived long enough so that his death will not be sensationalized with scandal in the tabloids like those of Liberace and Paul Lynde. Instead, his obituaries proudly read: "Charles Nelson Reilly was survived by his partner of 27 years, Patrick Hughs III." He was 76.
As you may or may not know, Fantasia Barrino, American Idol Season 3 winner known simply as Fantasia now, opened recently as Celie in The Color Purple on Broadway. In the wake of an Oscar winning performance by Jennifer Hudson whom she defeated for the title of American Idol and replacing Broadway actress LaChanze in the Tony winning role she created, Fantasia had a couple of tough acts to follow. Here are some of her reviews.
She’s pretty terrific. So terrific that this earnest but mechanical musical is more effective and affecting than it was when it yawned open a year and a half ago at the Broadway Theater... Fantasia exudes a sweetness, simplicity and honesty that gives it a core of authentic feeling. --Charles Isherwood, New York Times
That she could sing, we knew... But that she could act . . . and act so wonderfully. So tenderly, so touchingly, so effortlessly. That came as a surprise. I'm talking, if you haven't guessed, about Fantasia, who has taken over so commandingly the role of Celie in the musical "The Color Purple" at the Broadway Theatre. --Clive Barnes, NY Post
(Fantasia) establishes a direct line of communication with the audience that's fortified whenever she sings, whether it's the touching lullaby "Somebody Gonna Love You," sung to the infant about to be snatched from her arms, or the triumphant affirmation of her existence "I'm Here." And when her immersion in her sister Nettie's letters from Africa prompts her to cut loose in choreographer Donald Byrd's tribal dance, a surge of affection pulses through the house, as if the entire audience were proud parents of an awkward child stepping forward to shine. --David Rooney, Variety
Fantasia Barrino - high-school dropout in ninth grade, single mother at 17, "American Idol" winner in 2004 - makes a phenomenal stage debut as Celie in "The Color Purple."Much as fellow "Idol" discovery Jennifer Hudson swept into the Oscar books as Effie in "Dreamgirls," the 22-year-old known as Fantasia steps confidently into the demanding role in which LaChanze won last year's Tony Award. With a startling mixture of subtle delicacy and raw power, she dares us to take our eyes off her. --Linda Winer, NY Newsday
Wow. How many Broadway veterans would kill for reviews like that? Good for her!
One of my favorite stories of all time is that of Peter Pan. Whether it's the Disney version or the Broadway version or the original James Barrie, there is something about the story that moves me; something about believing in something strong enough that it comes true. I know I'm not alone in this, for no matter how many times the show is revived, an audience full of hard-boiled New York theatre goers never fails to applaud loud enough to bring Tinkerbell back to life. The other moment that gets me every time is when the Darling children think lovely enough thoughts that they fly for the first time. This happens in the number "I'm Flying," which is the clip I've included here. I cry like a baby. Happens every time. Instant water works.
The score for Peter Pan was written by Jule Styne with Book and Lyrics by Comden & Green and Carolyn Leigh. There were three major productions of Peter Pan on Broadway, the original in 1954 with Mary Martin, the 1979 production with Sandy Duncan (seen here) and the most recent in 1999 with Cathy Rigby. I have the Mary Martin filmed-for-television version on tape and the DVD of Cathy Rigby. (Yes, I'm a dork.) I also saw the Rigby production live and it remains one of my most precious theatre-going memories ever.
I attended a benefit performance of the show for the Actors Fund of Americawhich champions such causes as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, The Actors Work Program among others. Many Broadway shows do these benefit performances and they are always so much fun to attend. The cast, crew and musicians volunteer their time and there is a tremendous sense of community in that everyone in the theatre, including the audience, is united in the cause.I brought my then 6 year old niece, Katie, and my mother to the show. I happened to know one of the keyboard players in the pit who arranged for us to go backstage after the show, walk around on the set of a real Broadway stage, tryout Nana's doghouse and even get to meet Cathy Rigby who could not have been more lovely or gracious to my little niece. She sent Katie home with a pocket full of fairy dust that my niece says she still has somewhere. It was a truly magical experience.
